Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of Russia’s most famous political dissidents and one of the Kremlin’s most prominent critics, has predicted in an interview with Russian weekly newspaper Sobesednik that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s time at the helm of the country will come to an end by 2019. Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s...

Kyiv risked drawing further ire from Moscow on July 23 by approving the construction of an open-air museum devoted to seven decades of Soviet “occupation” of Ukraine. …read more Source: Radio Free Europe / Radio...

Editor’s note: The videos above and below contain strong violence. A YouTube video uploaded Tuesday shows a gay couple being attacked by a group of young members of a far-right group in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev after they were spotted canoodling on a bench. “It looks like they’re mistaking this place for America,”...

Young Maley in a Kiev hospital bed recovering from shrapnel wounds in war against Russia KIEV, UKRAINE Days after Russia took over Crimea last year, Ukrainian teenager “Maley” contacted his local army recruitment office to sign up. His calls went unanswered for weeks, so he went to the front with his grandfather’s hunting rifle...

A Ukrainian oil tanker loaded with 1,600 tons of illegal and undocumented diesel fuel has been detained in the Black Sea by a border guard unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service, according to a report by the pro-Russian news agency Tass. The ship was intercepted and taken to the port of Kerch on the eastern side of Crimea after having...

Minsk (AFP) – French star Gerard Depardieu is no stranger to unusual roles and controversy.But even hardened Depardieu-watchers may be taken aback by his latest visual foray — scything a field with authoritarian Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.Video and pictures released by Belarus on Wednesday showed a burly Lukashenko...

How China and Russia Are Running Rings Around WashingtonCross-posted with TomDispatch.comLet’s start with the geopolitical Big Bang you know nothing about, the one that occurred just two weeks ago. Here are its results: from now on, any possible future attack on Iran threatened by the Pentagon (in conjunction with NATO) would essentially be...

As Ukraine basks in summer sunshine, the beach resorts on the Sea of Azov are not doing well. The distant rumble of rocket fire and the roadblocks don’t make for much of a holiday atmosphere. Bookings have collapsed, and the tourism business is in ruins. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service and Current Time) …read more Source: Radio Free...

Rome (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to give Silvio Berlusconi Russian citizenship — and the job of economy minister — the disgraced Italian billionaire politician was quoted as saying Thursday.”In Italy, I have been relegated to the sidelines, but Putin has told me he is willing to give me citizenship, and...